FDIC Approval Moves Crypto-Focused Augustus Bank Closer To Launch

DALLAS—The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has approved deposit insurance for Augustus National Bank, advancing the startup’s effort to launch a full-service national bank serving financial institutions, fintechs and companies operating in the digital-asset economy.

The bank remains “in organization” and cannot begin business until it receives final clearance from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and satisfies remaining preopening requirements, the FDIC said.

The OCC granted Augustus preliminary conditional charter approval in May. According to the agency’s decision, the branchless Dallas bank plans to offer deposits and loans, payments and treasury services, foreign correspondent banking, digital-asset custody and a tokenized deposit capability. It also plans to seek approval for a wholly owned subsidiary that would issue, custody, convert and facilitate payments involving dollar-backed stablecoins.

Augustus, formerly known as Ivy, describes its model as an always-on, programmable dollar-clearing platform built for global financial institutions and machine-initiated transactions. The company already processes institutional payments in Europe and has identified cryptocurrency exchange Kraken as a customer. Augustus has said its technology is intended to replace traditional correspondent-banking processes that remain dependent on business hours and batch settlement, Davis, Wright, Tremaine noted.